Know the Score
They're 20 of the world's best-handling cars. But what is it, exactly, that makes them so good? On road and track, we find out.
HANDLING.
It's the way a car feels when you ask it to change direction, simple as that. Firm or soft, alive or anaesthetised, agile or lumpen, eager or reluctant, sharp or dull... Is it fun? Does it give confidence? Is it a car you have to beat into submission, or do you and it flow as one?
It's easy enough to feel when a car handles well. But it's not so easy to understand what it is that's good about it, how it is achieved and why it works. Before taking to the road and the race circuit with our 20 statements of the handling art, then, let's think about what we are looking for.
We're seeking clear communication between car and driver, through the way the steering feels, through the amount of warning you get of an impending loss of grip (the more predictable the grip limit, the better), and through how easy it is to keep control when you're on that edge. We're also seeking a good balance with- out strong understeer or oversteer (unless you ask for it), agility without nervousness, stability without stodge.
Cornering speed in itself is not the deciding factor. Even a slow car can be a great handler, which is why there's a Ford Ka in our 20. At the opposite extreme we have two Ferraris (F50 and 550 Maranello), plus all shades and chassis layouts in between.
As before, we assessed the cars on both road and track (Castle Combe, a CAR favourite). We recorded lap times not as an absolute measure of handling ability - for they clearly are not, but because they show up some surprises - for example, the Peugeot 106 GTI proves barely slower than the Lotus Elise.
But these lap times must be put into context. The track was damp at times, which may have affected some cars' performances, and all 20 cars are probably capable of going faster. We've quoted the best time of three laps following a warm-up lap, so the times are relative rather than absolute. What they do show, though, is how easy it is to get the measure of a particular car's dynamics. How much of a measure, you'll find out over the following pages.
Fast-track to handling insight
Castle Combe race circuit is a frantic, but revealing 1.84 miles
CASTLE COMBE IS A GREAT place to augment what you've already learned from the road. It has no really slow corners, and poses some real challenges.
After a flying start you come to a flat-out dip that curves to the right. The car is pressed nto the road, it's travelling fast and there are bumps. You need good dampers. Then you arrive at a blind crest, the Avon Rise. A quick car is doing well beyond 120mph.
With the car still unweighted you're braking hard for Quarry. Stability matters here. Quarry is a long and not very quick corner giving you plenty of time to play with tne handling balance on the throttle. Then it's a lengthy straight, a fast right-hander with no room for error a quick left, then a medium-fast 90-right, a swerving upgrade back to Camp, the long and fast start-finish corner
Final score
And in the end, after a week of squealing rubber; brake fade, and the odd bit of scientific analysis, the verdict...
1st Lotus Elise Light, fantastic. As ever
2nd Honda NSX Exhilaration, every day
3rd Ferrari F50 Doesn't make a crisis out of the drama
WE HAD A spectacularly good few days exploring what these 20 cars could do. We'd encountered them all before of course but there's nothing like snaking them, back to back round a track and down roads you know. A rotten job, but someone had to do it. And yes, it felt even better to step out of them at the end, knowing they were all going back to their registered keepers in the same shape they arrived.
Like the judges of some Blue Peter art competition, we find ourselves unable to avoid the old cliches about the overall standard being high. But that's not because we aren't critical. Last year, some of the cars disappointed us. They weren't invited back.
At the top of the pile in 1997 are three similar cars. The Elise, NSX and F50 are all mid-engined, rear-drive, and designed to be light for their power. You'd expect them to be responsive, agile and tactile. And so they are. You might also expect them to be edgy and wilful when pressed, so that you have to be some kind of hero to enjoy them. Mercifully, they swerve neatly around those preconceptions by being progressive and wonderfially talkative at the limit. Friendly, even.
The Elise wins, because it is so pure. Great handling - on roads as well as tracks - was the absolute number one priority for its maker, which has a noble history in the art. (We're already in Pavlovian spasms about the forthcoming Sport version: lighter glassfibre body and the same 190bhp engine as the Caterham Supersport-R). For the same effect with more power-drama, see the F50. For the same effect with power and practicality see the NSX. Few companies other than Honda would have the money, expertise and vision to engineer that compromise.
Integra-R: new front-drive hero
So is there a mid-engined hegemony? No-one who'd torn around the Gombe in the 4wd Subaru, front-drive Integra-R or rear-drive Jag and Maranello would agree to that. The Integra-R is significant because that's the layout used by the majority of cars on the road; the fact that it can attain such heights is good news for most drivers. On the track, the Integra-R kisses goodbye to understeer and marks a new benchmark for front-drive precision. If it had a little more life at seven-10ths on the road, we'd hardly be able to contain ourselves. The Subaru is so fail-safe, steadfastly balanced, secure. The Jag is astonishingly able for a car of its bulk and the Maranello manages to be both super-grippy and sublimely slideable. It also balances high-tech sophistication with raw communication, and that's a precious asset.
The Boxster is a wonderfully subtle little scalpel, while the Puma deserves a mention for having handling a stratum higher than its hot-hatch layout and price. Only the little Peugeot can compete with it - though less sophisticated and able, it's more garrulous, especially on the road. The madder-than-ever Caterham didn't leave anyone unmoved, of course. Plus, we mustn't forget an honourable mention for the Skyline, a stratospheric tech-fest that still manages to involve the most sophisticated component of all: its driver. By taking drive away from the front wheels except when it's needed, steering feel is retained.
Amazing, then, that things like a Carrera 4, Spider and Esprit GT3 get bundled unceremoniously into a 'best of the rest' file. Even the wooden-spoon car, the BMW Z3, would be called a fine roadgoing ragtop if only it hadn't had the misfortune to be born in the era of the Boxster. It's been a good year for drivers.
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Times, gentlemen, please
1st Ferrari F50 69.37
2nd Ferrari 550 Maranello 72.04
3rd Honda NSX 72.20
4th Chrysler GTS 72.86
5th Nissat Skyline GT-R 73.09
6th Caterham Superlight R 73.17
7th Lotus Esprit GT3 74.40
8th Porsche 911 Carrera 4 74.89
9th Jaguar XJR V8 76.20
10th Venturi Atlantique 76.71
11th Subaru Impreza Turbo 76.83
12th Porsche Boxster 77.52
13th Honda Integra-R 78.94
14th BMW Z3 2.8 79.02
15th Lotus Elise 79.05
16th Peugeot 106 GTI 79.63
17th Renault Sport Spider 79.83
18th Ford Puma 83.15
19th MGF VVC 85.80
20th Ford Ka2 94.81
